Book Club for Masochists: a Readers' Advisory Podcast

Join us for this super special bonus episode featuring the full version of our conversation with Jessi about Supernatural and Paranormal Nonfiction.

Your hosts in this episode

Jessi| Matthew Murray

Recommendations

• Haunted Hotels by Jo-Anne Christensen
• National Geographic Ultimate Guide to Supernatural Places: Close Encounters, Haunted Houses, and Other Spooky Hot Spots Around the World by Sarah Bartlett
• Ghosts: A Haunted History by Lisa Morton

Did Not Finish

• Paranormal State: My Journey into the Unknown by Ryan Buell and Stefan Petrucha
• The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Paranormal by Nathan Robert Brown

Other Books Mentioned

• Wood Spirits and Green Men by Lora S. Irish, Chris Pye, and Shawn Cipa
• The Oxford Book of the Supernatural by D.J. Enright
• Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife by Mary Roach
• Ghosts: A Natural History: 500 Years of Searching for Proof by Roger Clarke

Links and Things

• Lone Pine Publishing's lists of all of the ghost books that they publish
• Krasue One of the SE Asian ghosts that Jessi mentioned
• /r/nosleep on Reddit
• Never actually mentioned in the podcast, but here's information about a ghost cat in a library
• Bookriot's list of 25 More Outstanding Podcasts for Readers

If you missed our full episode on Supernatural and Paranormal non-fiction you can find it here. Check out our Pinterest board and Tumblr posts for all the books about Supernatural and Paranormal Nonfiction people in the club read (or tried to read), and follow us on Twitter! Join us again on Tuesday, November 15th, when we discuss Metafiction!

Join us for this super special bonus episode featuring the full version of our conversation with Jessi about Supernatural and Paranormal Nonfiction.

Your hosts in this episode

Jessi| Matthew Murray

Recommendations

• Haunted Hotels by Jo-Anne Christensen
• National Geographic Ultimate Guide to Supernatural Places: Close Encounters, Haunted Houses, and Other Spooky Hot Spots Around the World by Sarah Bartlett
• Ghosts: A Haunted History by Lisa Morton

Did Not Finish

• Paranormal State: My Journey into the Unknown by Ryan Buell and Stefan Petrucha
• The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Paranormal by Nathan Robert Brown

Other Books Mentioned

• Wood Spirits and Green Men by Lora S. Irish, Chris Pye, and Shawn Cipa
• The Oxford Book of the Supernatural by D.J. Enright
• Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife by Mary Roach
• Ghosts: A Natural History: 500 Years of Searching for Proof by Roger Clarke

Links and Things

• Lone Pine Publishing’s lists of all of the ghost books that they publish
• Krasue One of the SE Asian ghosts that Jessi mentioned
• /r/nosleep on Reddit
• Never actually mentioned in the podcast, but here’s information about a ghost cat in a library
• Bookriot’s list of 25 More Outstanding Podcasts for Readers

If you missed our full episode on Supernatural and Paranormal non-fiction you can find it here.   Check out our Pinterest board and Tumblr posts for all the books about Supernatural and Paranormal Nonfiction people in the club read (or tried to read), and follow us on Twitter!   Join us again on Tuesday, November 15th, when we discuss Metafiction!  

Just in time to miss Halloween, this episode has us reading Supernatural and Paranormal Non-fiction. And by "reading" we mean "not reading", as several of us fail to finish any books. Thankfully, we can blame everything on gremlins. Plus wolfmen, ghosts, mermaids, dramatic readings, and special guests.

Your hosts this episode

Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | Inti Dewey | Jessi

Recommended (thanks entirely to Jessi)

• Ghosts: A Haunted History by Lisa Morton
• National Geographic Ultimate Guide to Supernatural Places by Sarah Bartlett
• Haunted Hotels by Jo-Anne Christensen
• The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Paranormal by Nathan Robert Brown

Read

• Yurei: The Japanese Ghost by Zack Davisson
• The Little Book of True Ghost Stories by Echo Bodine
• Mermaids 101: Exploring the Magical Underwater World of the Merpeople by Doreen Virtue

Did Not Finish

• On Monsters: An Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears by Stephen T. Asma
• Abominable Science!: Origins of the Yeti, Nessie, and Other Famous Cryptids by Daniel Loxton and Donald R. Prothero
• Sex & the Paranormal by Paul Chambers
• Unbelievable: Investigations into Ghosts, Poltergeists, Telepathy, and Other Unseen Phenomena from the Duke Parapsychology Laboratory by Stacy Horn
• Will Storr vs. The Supernatural: One Man's Search for the Truth About Ghosts by Will Storr
• Hostage to the Devil: The Possession and Exorcism of Five Living Americans by Malachi Martin
• Real Wolfmen: True Encounters in Modern America by Linda S. Godfrey
• The Strange Case of Hellish Nell: The Story of Helen Duncan and the Witch Trial of World War II by Nina Shandler
• The Enigmas of History: Myths, Mysteries & Madness from Around the World by Alan Baker
• Haunted Girl : Esther Cox & the Great Amherst Mystery by Laurie Glenn Norris
• Fringe-ology: How I Tried to Explain Away the Unexplainable-And Couldn't by Steve Volk

Links/Other

• Supernatural vs. Paranormal
• Normcore, Superflat, and Supernormal?
• What Anna means by Scary Stories and More Scary Stories is the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark series by Alvin Schwartz
• XKCD ruins Matthew's ability to believe
• Nazis and the Occult
• The Spear of Destiny
• Hellboy's World: Comics and Monsters on the Margins by Scott Bukatman references Mr. Wuffles by David Wiesner
• Alien languages in Futurama (not specifically mentioned, but a good example)
• A Ghost Story by Matthew Murray
• Aokigahara: The Japanese Suicide Forest
• Koro: The "overpowering belief that one's genitalia are retracting and will disappear" (women did it)
• The dangers of Dungeons & Dragons
• The sad life of Rosemary Kennedy
• Hellish Nell's story in the format that Matthew prefers
• A compendium of paranormal askReddit discussion threads

The magic sound introducing our guests is "fairy magic wand" by Robinhood76 from freesound.org.

Questions

• What colour of the rainbow did you cross over into Atlantis on?
• What appeal factors for the paranormal/supernatural genre did we miss?
• How could cataloguing be altered to make things more 'findable'?
• Can you draw our Guardian Gremlins for us?

Just in time to miss Halloween, this episode has us reading Supernatural and Paranormal Non-fiction. And by “reading” we mean “not reading”, as several of us fail to finish any books. Thankfully, we can blame everything on gremlins. Plus wolfmen, ghosts, mermaids, dramatic readings, and special guests.

 

Your hosts this episode

Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | Inti Dewey |  Jessi

Recommended (thanks entirely to Jessi)

• Ghosts: A Haunted History by Lisa Morton
• National Geographic Ultimate Guide to Supernatural Places by Sarah Bartlett
• Haunted Hotels by Jo-Anne Christensen
• The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Paranormal by Nathan Robert Brown

Read

• Yurei: The Japanese Ghost by Zack Davisson
• The Little Book of True Ghost Stories by Echo Bodine
• Mermaids 101: Exploring the Magical Underwater World of the Merpeople by Doreen Virtue

Did Not Finish

• On Monsters: An Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears by Stephen T. Asma
• Abominable Science!: Origins of the Yeti, Nessie, and Other Famous Cryptids by Daniel Loxton and Donald R. Prothero
• Sex & the Paranormal by Paul Chambers
• Unbelievable: Investigations into Ghosts, Poltergeists, Telepathy, and Other Unseen Phenomena from the Duke Parapsychology Laboratory by Stacy Horn
• Will Storr vs. The Supernatural: One Man's Search for the Truth About Ghosts by Will Storr
• Hostage to the Devil: The Possession and Exorcism of Five Living Americans by Malachi Martin
• Real Wolfmen: True Encounters in Modern America by Linda S. Godfrey
• The Strange Case of Hellish Nell: The Story of Helen Duncan and the Witch Trial of World War II by Nina Shandler
• The Enigmas of History: Myths, Mysteries & Madness from Around the World by Alan Baker
• Haunted Girl : Esther Cox & the Great Amherst Mystery by Laurie Glenn Norris
• Fringe-ology: How I Tried to Explain Away the Unexplainable-And Couldn't by Steve Volk

Links/Other

• Supernatural vs. Paranormal
• Normcore, Superflat, and Supernormal?
• What Anna means by Scary Stories and More Scary Stories is the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark series by Alvin Schwartz
• XKCD ruins Matthew’s ability to believe
• Nazis and the Occult
• The Spear of Destiny
• Hellboy's World: Comics and Monsters on the Margins by Scott Bukatman references Mr. Wuffles by David Wiesner
• Alien languages in Futurama (not specifically mentioned, but a good example)
• A Ghost Story by Matthew Murray
• Aokigahara: The Japanese Suicide Forest
• Koro: The "overpowering belief that one's genitalia are retracting and will disappear" (women did it)
• The dangers of Dungeons & Dragons
• The sad life of Rosemary Kennedy
• Hellish Nell’s story in the format that Matthew prefers
• A compendium of paranormal askReddit discussion threads

The magic sound introducing our guests is "fairy magic wand" by Robinhood76 from freesound.org.

Questions

• What colour of the rainbow did you cross over into Atlantis on?
• What appeal factors for the paranormal/supernatural genre did we miss?
• How could cataloguing be altered to make things more ‘findable’?
• Can you draw our Guardian Gremlins for us?

This episode we take on the genre of Self Help, and are decidedly unenthused. We talk about reading what was on our parents' book shelves, books filled with terrible advice, and the fact that even if the advice in a book is good we're probably just going to ignore it.

Your hosts in this episode

Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Jessi | Matthew Murray

Recommended

• Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed
• Overwhelmed by Brigid Schulte
• The Diva Rules by Michelle Visage

Read

• The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
• Happiness by Joan Duncan Oliver
• She's Just Not Into You by Aryka Randall
• He Just Not That Into You by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo

Did Not Finish

• Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki
• Helping Me Help Myself by Beth Lisick
• Adulting: How to Become a Grown-up in 468 Easy(ish) Steps by Kelly Williams Brown

Other Titles Mentioned

• Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondō, translated by Cathy Hirano
• It's Called a Breakup Because It's Broken by Greg Behrendt and Amiira Ruotola-Behrendt
• Potatoes Not Prozac by Kathleen DesMaisons
• When You Eat at the Refrigerator Pull Up a Chair by Geneen Roth
• Spark Joy by Marie Kondō
• Rich Brother Rich Sister by Robert T. Kiyosaki, Emi Kiyosaki
• Everything I Need to Know I learned from DnD by Shelly Mazzanoble
• Radical Self Love by Gala Darling
• Wild by Cheryl Strayed
• The Adventures of Johnny Bunko by Daniel H. Pink (Comic)
• I Can't Believe It's Not Better by Monica Heisey
• Grace's Guide by Grace HelbigThe Do-it-yourself Guide to Fighting the Big Motherfuckin' Sad by Adam Gnade
• The Werewolf's Guide to Life: A Manual for the Newly Bitten by Ritch Duncan, Bob Powers

(Almost every single one of the above books has a Title: Subtitle. That was too many words/too much work for us. You all just get the Title part.)

Links/Other

• Readers' Advisory for Library Staff
• Anna gets advice from Rebecca Shinsky, mostly via the All The Books podcast these days.
• DTMFA from Savage Love
• Snake People Invade the Internet
• Anna's Popular Science RA presentation (and guide)
• Hire a Goat Grazer from Amazon

Questions

• Do you read self-help books and then not implement any of their advice?
• Have you ever taken part in Bibliotherapy?
• When would you recommend professional intervention vs a self-help book?
• Have you ever thrown a book across a room?

Check out our Pinterest board and Tumblr posts for all the books about Self Help people in the club read (or tried to read), and follow us on Twitter!

Join us again on Tuesday, November 1st, when we discuss Supernatural and Paranormal non-fiction!

This episode we take on the genre of Self Help, and are decidedly unenthused. We talk about reading what was on our parents' book shelves, books filled with terrible advice, and the fact that even if the advice in a book is good we're probably just going to ignore it.

Your hosts in this episode

Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Jessi | Matthew Murray

Recommended

• Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed
• Overwhelmed by Brigid Schulte
• The Diva Rules by Michelle Visage

Read

• The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
• Happiness by Joan Duncan Oliver
• She’s Just Not Into You by Aryka Randall
• He Just Not That Into You by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo

Did Not Finish

• Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki
• Helping Me Help Myself by Beth Lisick
• Adulting: How to Become a Grown-up in 468 Easy(ish) Steps by Kelly Williams Brown

Other Titles Mentioned

• Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondō, translated by Cathy Hirano
• It's Called a Breakup Because It's Broken by Greg Behrendt and Amiira Ruotola-Behrendt
• Potatoes Not Prozac by Kathleen DesMaisons
• When You Eat at the Refrigerator Pull Up a Chair by Geneen Roth
• Spark Joy by Marie Kondō
• Rich Brother Rich Sister by Robert T. Kiyosaki, Emi Kiyosaki
• Everything I Need to Know I learned from DnD by Shelly Mazzanoble
• Radical Self Love by Gala Darling
• Wild by Cheryl Strayed
• The Adventures of Johnny Bunko by Daniel H. Pink (Comic)
• I Can’t Believe It’s Not Better by Monica Heisey
• Grace's Guide by Grace Helbig
  The Do-it-yourself Guide to Fighting the Big Motherfuckin’ Sad by Adam Gnade
• The Werewolf's Guide to Life: A Manual for the Newly Bitten by Ritch Duncan, Bob Powers

(Almost every single one of the above books has a Title: Subtitle. That was too many words/too much work for us. You all just get the Title part.)

Links/Other

• Readers’ Advisory for Library Staff
• Anna gets advice from Rebecca Shinsky, mostly via the All The Books podcast these days.
• DTMFA from Savage Love
• Snake People Invade the Internet
• Anna’s Popular Science RA presentation (and guide)
• Hire a Goat Grazer from Amazon

Questions

• Do you read self-help books and then not implement any of their advice?
• Have you ever taken part in Bibliotherapy?
• When would you recommend professional intervention vs a self-help book?
• Have you ever thrown a book across a room?

Check out our Pinterest board and Tumblr posts for all the books about Self Help people in the club read (or tried to read), and follow us on Twitter!

Join us again on Tuesday, November 1st, when we discuss Supernatural and Paranormal non-fiction!

This episode we tackle a fantasy genre for the first time and once again ponder the question "How much history do you really want in your historical [genre]?" We encounter a lot of ghosts and westerns, but not nearly enough luchadores, wonder how steampunk fits into Historical Fantasy, and discuss the importance of research, the appeal of setting, and how authentic we should expect historical fiction to be in regards to race and gender. Plus: We say goodbye to Amanda :'(

Your Hosts This Episode

Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray

Recommended

• Hellboy in Mexico by Mike Mignola and Richard Corben (Comic) (Recommended)
• Six-Gun Snow White by Catherynne M. Valente
• The Girl With Ghost Eyes by M.H. Boroson
• Vermilion by Molly Tanzer
• The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories by Susanna Clarke
• His Majesty's Dragon - Temeraire Series by Naomi Novik
• The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold
• Soldier of the Mist by Gene Wolfe
• The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle

Read

• The Bone Collector's Son by Paul Yee
• The Paper Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg
• The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart
• The Salt Roads by Nalo Hopkinson
• New Amsterdam by Elizabeth Bear

Did Not Finish

• Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Other Books and Comics by order of mention:

• The SEA is Ours: Tales from Steampunk Southeast Asia (Recommended)
• John Carter by Edgar Rice Burroughs
• Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
• A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
• The Sixth Gun by Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurt
• The entire Hellboy universe by Mike Mignola and others (Recommended)
• Wise Child by Monica Furlong (Middle Grade) (Recommended)
• The Beetle by Richard Marsh
• Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke (Recommended)
• Karen Memory by Elizabeth Bear (steampunk via science, no magic)
• The Professor's Daughter by Joann Sfar and Emmanuel Guibert (Recommended)
• Obsidian and Blood by Aliette de Bodard (Recommended)
• The Others by Anne Bishop (Recommended—not historical at all, just really good contemporary pseudo-urban fantasy)
• The Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton

Links/Other

• Get Genrefied: Historical Fantasy
• How much history is in the maybe-historical fantasy novel The Curse of Chalion
• Novelist, again
• Call of Cthulhu RPGAchtung! Cthulhu RPG
• Sexism in historical fantasy
• We have always fought: Challenging the 'Women, Cattle and Slaves' Narrative
• RRRrrrr!!! - Trailer (in French), Wikipedia page (in English)
• Krogslist (and more!)
• Ostern or Red Westerns
• Wuxia martial arts stories The other genre Matthew mentioned is linghuan, which apparently means something like "spirit magic" (and seems to be predominantly in film?). There's a brief description on M. H. Boroson's website (that's who wrote The Girl with Ghost Eyes) that might give you some idea of what it is. Basically "spooky horror, but also funny".
• Matthew's list of Batman comics and books for every genre.
• Readers' Advisory for Library Staff Facebook group

Questions

• Are you powerfully attracted to or repelled by the fantasy genre and whyever for?
• Do you like your historical fantasy historical-ish with an extra helping of fantasy or light on the fantasy and heavy with history?
• How far did we stray from your definition of Historical Fantasy in our reading this month?
• What is your dream historical fantasy period/style?

Check out our Pinterest board and Tumblr posts for all the books about Historical Fantasy people in the club read (or tried to read), and follow us on Twitter!

Join us again on Tuesday, October 18th, when we discuss Self Help!

This episode we tackle a fantasy genre for the first time and once again ponder the question “How much history do you really want in your historical [genre]?” We encounter a lot of ghosts and westerns, but not nearly enough luchadores, wonder how steampunk fits into Historical Fantasy, and discuss the importance of research, the appeal of setting, and how authentic we should expect historical fiction to be in regards to race and gender. Plus: We say goodbye to Amanda :’(

Your Hosts This Episode

Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray

Recommended

• Hellboy in Mexico by Mike Mignola and Richard Corben (Comic) (Recommended)
• Six-Gun Snow White by Catherynne M. Valente
• The Girl With Ghost Eyes by M.H. Boroson
• Vermilion by Molly Tanzer
• The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories by Susanna Clarke
• His Majesty’s Dragon - Temeraire Series by Naomi Novik
• The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold
• Soldier of the Mist by Gene Wolfe
• The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle

Read

• The Bone Collector’s Son by Paul Yee
• The Paper Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg
• The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart
• The Salt Roads by Nalo Hopkinson
• New Amsterdam by Elizabeth Bear

Did Not Finish

• Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Other Books and Comics by order of mention:

• The SEA is Ours: Tales from Steampunk Southeast Asia (Recommended)
• John Carter by Edgar Rice Burroughs
• Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
• A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
• The Sixth Gun by Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurt
• The entire Hellboy universe by Mike Mignola and others (Recommended)
• Wise Child by Monica Furlong (Middle Grade) (Recommended)
• The Beetle by Richard Marsh
• Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke (Recommended)
• Karen Memory by Elizabeth Bear (steampunk via science, no magic)
• The Professor’s Daughter by Joann Sfar and Emmanuel Guibert (Recommended)
• Obsidian and Blood by Aliette de Bodard (Recommended)
• The Others by Anne Bishop (Recommended—not historical at all, just really good contemporary pseudo-urban fantasy)
• The Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton

Links/Other

• Get Genrefied: Historical Fantasy
• How much history is in the maybe-historical fantasy novel The Curse of Chalion
• Novelist, again
• Call of Cthulhu RPG
  Achtung! Cthulhu RPG
• Sexism in historical fantasy
• We have always fought: Challenging the 'Women, Cattle and Slaves' Narrative
• RRRrrrr!!! - Trailer (in French), Wikipedia page (in English)
• Krogslist (and more!)
• Ostern or Red Westerns
• Wuxia martial arts stories
  The other genre Matthew mentioned is linghuan, which apparently means something like “spirit magic” (and seems to be predominantly in film?). There’s a brief description on M. H. Boroson’s website (that’s who wrote The Girl with Ghost Eyes) that might give you some idea of what it is. Basically “spooky horror, but also funny”.
• Matthew’s list of Batman comics and books for every genre.
• Readers’ Advisory for Library Staff Facebook group

Questions

• Are you powerfully attracted to or repelled by the fantasy genre and whyever for?
• Do you like your historical fantasy historical-ish with an extra helping of fantasy or light on the fantasy and heavy with history?
• How far did we stray from your definition of Historical Fantasy in our reading this month?
• What is your dream historical fantasy period/style?

Check out our Pinterest board and Tumblr posts for all the books about Historical Fantasy people in the club read (or tried to read), and follow us on Twitter!

Join us again on Tuesday, October 18th, when we discuss Self Help!

This episode we take on books about Spies and Espionage, which meant extra painful reading for Anna. We tackle topics like how to pronounce John Le Carré's name, if the Cold War is necessary for the spy-espionage genre, how to use Novelist to read diversely, whether we need a "Badass Women" subject heading, if spy novels are fundamentally boring, what to do when authors don't write their own books, and if it ever hurts to call officers "dude".

Your Hosts This Episode

Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | Amanda Wanner

Recommended

• Clementine by Cherie Priest
• Your Republic is Calling You by Young-Ha Kim, translated by Chi-Young Kim
• Cowboy Angels by Paul McAuley
• League of Unexceptional Children by Gitty Daneshvari (Middle Grade)
• The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton
• The Bletchley Girls by Tessa Dunlop (Non-Fiction)
• Women Heroes of World War II by Kathryn J. Atwood (Non-Fiction)
• Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger (YA on the younger side)
• Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein (try the audiobook - it's good)
• Corporate Spies: the Pizza Plot (article)

Read

• By Tess Gerritsen:
• • In Their Footsteps
  • Call After Midnight

• Spy School by Stuart Gibbs (Middle Grade)
• Harriet Spies Again by Helen Ericson and maybe Louise Fitzhugh (Middle Grade)
• From Russia With Love by Ian Fleming
• Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum

Did Not Finish

• The Agency by Y. S. Lee
• Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy (We can totally see why people like this one; it's just not for Anna)
• Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by John le Carré

Also read, not mentioned:

• Octopussy and the Living Daylights by Ian Fleming
• The Tsar of Love and Techno by Anthony Marra (Recommended)
• Super Spy, and The Lost Dossiers by Matt Kindt (Comic)
• 2 Sisters by Matt Kindt (Comic)
• The Prisoner by Thomas M. Disch
• Polar: Came from the Cold by Victor Santos (Comic)

Links/Other

• Queen and Country by Greg Rucka and various artists (Comic) Recommended
• Velvet by Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting (Recommended)
• Sleeper by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (Recommended)
• Ghost Money by Thierry Smolderen and Dominique Bertail
• Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
• Spying on Miss Muller by Eve Bunting
• A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick
• It's awfully hard to figure out approximately how many titles are in NoveList, but you can learn more about it: What is Novelist
• Bible Verses Where "Behold" Has Been Replaced With "Look, Buddy"
• Article about browsing streams (For finding things like "Strong Female Characters")
• Real life undercover police spies (depressing articles)
• • Inside the lonely and violent world of the Yard's elite undercover unit
  • Woman wins undercover officer case against Met Police
  • Undercover policemen, undercover lovers
• Big Apple Takedown: Novel about "a new covert black-ops group using the Superstars of World Wrestling Entertainment".
• The Worst Bestsellers podcast read Clancy
• The day we discovered our parents were Russian spies is an amazing and sad true story
• The appeal of spy fiction
• James Bond, spy fiction, and the decline of empire

Questions Has anyone read any Corporate Espionage books? What's the appeal? What are your recommendations? How about books about hackers and/or social engineering? Is the stereotype of spy/espionage novels as male power fantasies unavoidable? Did we miss something on why spy/espionage novels appeal to readers?

"John le Carre" sample from the audiobook version of Call for the Dead, narrated by Michael Jayston.

The intermission music was Intermission by Unthunk from the Free Music Archive.

And a super extra-big thank you to Amanda Wanner, who has moved continents and will no longer be appearing regularly on the podcast. We'll miss you!

Check out our Pinterest board and Tumblr posts for all the books about spies and espionage people in the club read (or tried to read), and follow us on Twitter!

Join us again on Tuesday, October 4th, when we discuss Historical Fantasy!

This episode we take on books about Spies and Espionage, which meant extra painful reading for Anna. We tackle topics like how to pronounce John Le Carré’s name, if the Cold War is necessary for the spy-espionage genre, how to use Novelist to read diversely, whether we need a “Badass Women” subject heading, if spy novels are fundamentally boring, what to do when authors don’t write their own books, and if it ever hurts to call officers “dude”.

Your Hosts This Episode

Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | Amanda Wanner

Recommended

• Clementine by Cherie Priest
• Your Republic is Calling You by Young-Ha Kim, translated by Chi-Young Kim
• Cowboy Angels by Paul McAuley
• League of Unexceptional Children by Gitty Daneshvari (Middle Grade)
• The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton
• The Bletchley Girls by Tessa Dunlop (Non-Fiction)
• Women Heroes of World War II by Kathryn J. Atwood  (Non-Fiction)
• Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger (YA on the younger side)
• Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein (try the audiobook - it’s good)
• Corporate Spies: the Pizza Plot (article)

Read

• By Tess Gerritsen:
• • In Their Footsteps
  • Call After Midnight

• Spy School by Stuart Gibbs (Middle Grade)
• Harriet Spies Again by Helen Ericson and maybe Louise Fitzhugh (Middle Grade)
• From Russia With Love by Ian Fleming
• Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum

Did Not Finish

• The Agency by Y. S. Lee
• Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy (We can totally see why people like this one; it’s just not for Anna)
• Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by John le Carré

Also read, not mentioned:

• Octopussy and the Living Daylights by Ian Fleming
• The Tsar of Love and Techno by Anthony Marra (Recommended)
• Super Spy, and The Lost Dossiers by Matt Kindt (Comic)
• 2 Sisters by Matt Kindt (Comic)
• The Prisoner by Thomas M. Disch 
• Polar: Came from the Cold by Victor Santos (Comic)

 Links/Other

• Queen and Country by Greg Rucka and various artists (Comic) Recommended
• Velvet by Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting (Recommended)
• Sleeper by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (Recommended)
• Ghost Money by Thierry Smolderen and Dominique Bertail
• Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
• Spying on Miss Muller by Eve Bunting
• A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick
• It’s awfully hard to figure out approximately how many titles are in NoveList, but you can learn more about it: What is Novelist
• Bible Verses Where “Behold” Has Been Replaced With “Look, Buddy”
• Article about browsing streams (For finding things like “Strong Female Characters”)
• Real life undercover police spies (depressing articles)
• • Inside the lonely and violent world of the Yard's elite undercover unit
  • Woman wins undercover officer case against Met Police
  • Undercover policemen, undercover lovers
• Big Apple Takedown: Novel about “a new covert black-ops group using the Superstars of World Wrestling Entertainment”.
• The Worst Bestsellers podcast read Clancy
• The day we discovered our parents were Russian spies is an amazing and sad true story
• The appeal of spy fiction
• James Bond, spy fiction, and the decline of empire

Questions
Has anyone read any Corporate Espionage books? What's the appeal? What are your recommendations? How about books about hackers and/or social engineering? Is the stereotype of spy/espionage novels as male power fantasies unavoidable? Did we miss something on why spy/espionage novels appeal to readers?

“John le Carre” sample from the audiobook version of Call for the Dead, narrated by Michael Jayston.

The intermission music was Intermission by Unthunk from the Free Music Archive.

And a super extra-big thank you to Amanda Wanner, who has moved continents and will no longer be appearing regularly on the podcast. We'll miss you!

Check out our Pinterest board and Tumblr posts for all the books about spies and espionage people in the club read (or tried to read), and follow us on Twitter!

Join us again on Tuesday, October 4th, when we discuss Historical Fantasy!